Category: River Catchment Areas

River catchment areas need special protection. If the river catchment areas are not properly protected, it is easy for the rivers that depend on them to dry up. And when rivers dry up, the consequences are not good. If , for instance, any specific river dries up, the people who depend on its waters end up being in great difficulty. It is important to appreciate that even in the most advanced nations, huge populations of people still depend on river water to a great extent. It is just that the water is not drawn directly from the rivers. Rather, it is dammed, and then treated, before being pumped to the people who need it. But it still comes from rivers. Furthermore, if rivers dry up due to poor protection of the catchment areas, the flora and fauna in the rivers would also be greatly endangered. That can be disastrous, from an ecological point of view. Given these sorts of facts, it becomes clear that the protection of river catchment areas is a high priority undertaking. The question that arises is as to how the river catchment areas can be protected.

There are three obvious steps that need to be taken, in terms of river catchment areas protection.

Firstly, the river catchment areas need to be identified. Every river has a catchment area. Some rivers emanate from mountain springs. Others emanate from lakes (as outlets to the lakes). Others still emanate from forests… and so on. The catchment areas have to be identified.

Secondly, after identifying the river catchment areas, the relevant protection measures need to be identified. That is, the specific things that need to be done, to protect those catchment areas. Environmental science specialists, ecologists, hydrologists and other relevant experts can provide the advice.

Thirdly, the river catchment protection measures that are identified need to be implemented consistently. Procedures and standards need to be developed, to ensure that those measures are consistently implemented, so as to protect the river catchment areas.